Senior Citizens Ruined by Obama Economy, Media Silent

Senior citizens whose lives depend on their saved earnings are in crisis because of the economy – but somehow, because there’s a Democrat in the White House, the media says nothing. In a concise and brilliant column in USA Today, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit.com delineates how shockingly bad the situation is for seniors.

Reynolds starts by noting that the basic elements of seniors’ savings:

advertisement

“…interest rates on bonds, CDs and money market accounts are at historic lows. Money markets are down 0.35% and CD’s are 0.90%. Stocks are lower than they were five years ago.”

The University of Tennessee law professor then posits this: Years ago, when seniors could accrue 5% on their savings, a $360,000 portfolio of CDs would garner $18,000 a year in interest, which amounted to $1500 a month. Combined with a Social Seurity payment that was roughly equivalent, the total would be $36,000 a year, $3,000 a month.

But in the current economy, that 5% becomes 0.9%, which means instead of receiving $18,000 a year, the total becomes $3,240 per year, or about $270 a month. Add the same $1,500 a month from Social Security, and the senior is now living on a mere $1,770 a month – just $21,240 a year. That’s almost cutting their income in half.

Reynolds notes that the Federal Reserve’s low interest rates are designed to bail out overextended banks and the borrowers who owe them money, including the U.S. Treasury. But the low interest rates hurt seniors; they steal from seniors in order to pay off the banks and the borrowers.

Seniors’ incomes are down, and to make matters even worse, costs are increasing markedly. Gas is double what it cost when Obama was inaugurated, ground beef is now more than $3 a pound for the first time ever, and the summer drought is only going to make matters harsher.

Meanwhile, the media parrots the same eternal Democrat talking points that “Republicans don’t care about the elderly.” Reynolds is absolutely correct; the media should be called out for tacitly absolving Obama for ruining the lives of the elderly.